Day 16 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 14

¹The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good. ²The LORD looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God. ³All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. ⁴Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD. ⁵There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is in the company of the righteous. ⁶You sinners frustrate the plans of the oppressed, yet the LORD is their shelter. ⁷Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores His captive people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!

New Testament·Matthew 11:12–30

¹²From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subject to violence, and the violent lay claim to it. ¹³For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. ¹⁵He who has ears, let him hear. ¹⁶To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: ¹⁷‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ ¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ ¹⁹The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her actions.” ²⁰Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. ²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²²But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. ²³And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” ²⁵At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight. ²⁷All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. ²⁸Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Old Testament·Genesis 29–30

¹Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. ²He looked and saw a well in the field, and near it lay three flocks of sheep, because the sheep were watered from this well. And a large stone covered the mouth of the well. ³When all the flocks had been gathered there, the shepherds would roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well. ⁴“My brothers,” Jacob asked the shepherds, “where are you from?” “We are from Haran,” they answered. ⁵“Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked. “We know him,” they replied. ⁶“Is he well?” Jacob inquired. “Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.” ⁷“Look,” said Jacob, “it is still broad daylight; it is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.” ⁸But they replied, “We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.” ⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, with Laban’s sheep, he went up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. ¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. ¹²He told Rachel that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father. ¹³When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him all that had happened. ¹⁴Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month, ¹⁵Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.” ¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters; the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. ¹⁷Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. ¹⁸Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” ¹⁹Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.” ²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her. ²¹Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.” ²²So Laban invited all the men of that place and prepared a feast. ²³But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. ²⁴And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant. ²⁵When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?” ²⁶Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older. ²⁷Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.” ²⁸And Jacob did just that. He finished the week’s celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. ²⁹Laban also gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant. ³⁰Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years. ³¹When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. ³²And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.” ³³Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon. ³⁴Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi. ³⁵And once more she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.

30When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob. ²Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?” ³Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me, so that through her I too can build a family.” ⁴So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her, ⁵and Bilhah conceived and bore him a son. ⁶Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan. ⁷And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸Then Rachel said, “In my great struggles, I have wrestled with my sister and won.” So she named him Naphtali. ⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. ¹²When Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, ¹³Leah said, “How happy I am! For the women call me happy.” So she named him Asher. ¹⁴Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁵But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?” “Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁶When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. ¹⁷And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob. ¹⁸Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. ¹⁹Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰“God has given me a good gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun. ²¹After that, Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. ²²Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb, ²³and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said. ²⁴She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.” ²⁵Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland. ²⁶Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, that I may go on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.” ²⁷But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸And he added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.” ²⁹Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my care. ³⁰Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?” ³¹“What can I give you?” Laban asked. “You do not need to give me anything,” Jacob replied. “If you do this one thing for me, I will keep on shepherding and keeping your flocks. ³²Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. These will be my wages. ³³So my honesty will testify for me when you come to check on my wages in the future. If I have any goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not dark-colored, they will be considered stolen.” ³⁴“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” ³⁵That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under the care of his sons. ³⁶Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flocks. ³⁷Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches. ³⁸Then he set the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of the flocks coming in to drink. So when the flocks were in heat and came to drink, ³⁹they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. ⁴⁰Jacob set apart the young, but made the rest face the streaked dark-colored sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and did not put them with Laban’s animals. ⁴¹Whenever the stronger females of the flock were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they would breed in front of the branches. ⁴²But if the animals were weak, he did not set out the branches. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob. ⁴³Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.